Chris Hull

FRS FInstP
Born
Christopher Michael Hull

1957 (age 66–67)[2]
EducationHaberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (BA, PhD)
AwardsDirac Medal (IOP) (2003)
Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2002)
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical physics
InstitutionsImperial College London
ThesisThe structure and stability of the vacua of supergravity (1983)
Doctoral advisorGary Gibbons[1]
Websiteimperial.ac.uk/people/c.hull

Christopher Michael Hull (born 1957)[2] FRS FInstP[3] is a professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London.[4] Hull is known for his work on string theory, M-theory, and generalized complex structures.[5] Edward Witten drew partially from Hull's work for his development of M-theory.[6]

Education

Hull was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School[2] and the University of Cambridge where he was a student of King's College, Cambridge and awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979 followed by a PhD in 1983 for research supervised by Gary Gibbons.[1][7]

Career and research

Hull conducts research into quantum gravity, a field that aims to discover a unifying theory of quantum theory and general relativity.[3] His particular contributions have been made to superstring theory, which models particles and forces as vibrations of 'supersymmetric strings', and supergravity, which combines supersymmetry with general relativity.[3]

Many mathematical challenges facing quantum gravity are being met through Hull's efforts to bring in, and extend, techniques from geometry and field theory.[3] His work laid the foundations of M-theory, which brings together apparently competing theories.[3] Overall success in quantum gravity would revolutionise our understanding of the fundamental nature of matter and the origins of, and evolution, of our Universe.[3]

He leads a major research programme in the Department of Physics at Imperial College London, with investigations that include extended geometries, flux geometries and holographic structures.[3]

Awards and honours

Hull was awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2002 and the Paul Dirac Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics in 2003. He was awarded a Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) Advanced Research fellowship in 1987[citation needed] and an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Senior Research Fellowship in 1996.[citation needed] He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP).[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Chris Hull at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  2. ^ a b c Anon (2007). "Hull, Prof. Christopher Michael". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.256675. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Anon (2012). "Professor Christopher Hull FRS". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:

    “All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.” --Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-11-11)
  4. ^ "Home - Professor Chris Hull FRS". www.imperial.ac.uk.
  5. ^ Imperial College London, publications of Professor Chris Hull, 2010-04-04. "PUBLICATIONS-c.hull". Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  6. ^ Edward Witten, in a radio interview in "Vetandets värld" on Swedish public radio, 2008-06-06. "Ett universum av strängarMöt ed Witten, ledande strängteoretiker - webbradio - sr.se". Archived from the original on 23 April 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  7. ^ Hull, Christopher Michael (1983). The structure and stability of the vacua of supergravity. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 499826125. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.350108.
  8. ^ Imperial College London, honours and awards of Professor Chris Hull, 2010-04-04. "HONOURS and AWARDS-c.hull". Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2010.

 This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.


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